Politics

Obama on being sued by Congress: ‘I am not particularly worried about it’

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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Asked about a Republican-led effort to sue him for executive overreach, President Obama said Thursday: “I am not particularly worried about it.”

House Republicans — led by South Carolina Rep. Tom Rice — have introduced what they call the STOP Act, which stands for Stop This Overreaching Presidency. It aims to take the president to court over the White House taking unilateral action on everything from Obamacare to immigration.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Obama made clear he plans to use executive orders to enact policies he cannot get passed in Congress.

CNN host Jake Tapper — during an interview on Thursday in Waukesha, Wisconsin — asked Obama about the The Stop Act.  “They want to rein in what you’re trying to do,” Tapper said. “How do you respond to that?”

“Well, I don’t think that’s very serious,” Obama replied. “I mean, the truth of the matter is, is that every president engages in executive actions.  In fact, we’ve been very disciplined and sparing in terms of the executive actions that we have taken.”

“We make sure that we’re doing it within the authority that we have under statute,” Obama said. “But I am not going to make an apology for saying that if I can help middle class families and folks who are working hard to try to get in the middle class do a little bit better, then I’m going to do it.”

Pressed by Tapper if the Stop Act is “not something you take seriously,” Obama responded: “I am not particularly worried about it.”

During a recent floor speech, Rice made the case for the STOP Act.

“The Legislative branch makes the laws and the Executive Branch enforces our laws,” he said. “They did this to protect our very, very fragile freedom and we cannot allow those separations to be eroded.”

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